James Newton Archives | ProductionBase Community

Creating a Drama Out of Serious Programmes

There is no doubt that serious factual is on the rise and fast becoming a regular fixture of audience’s weekly viewing habits and, if Twitter is anything to go by, really capturing the public’s imagination.

Producers now treat documentaries like they would a cutting edge drama; it’s compelling story-telling with strong narrative arcs. Whilst a swath of rig shows such as 24 Hours in A&E, One Born Every Minute, and The Catch are pulling in big audiences, there’s still room for the more traditional approach.

At our recent Turn On, Tune In event at The Hospital Club, we were delighted to welcome James Newton, series director of the gripping and dramatic three part series, The Detectives. The critically-acclaimed BBC Two series gave a close-up view of the day-to-day operations of the Serious Sexual Offences Unit of Greater Manchester Police, the first dedicated rape investigation team in the UK.

Events Worth Talking About

I wanted to highlight some of the events we have been hosting recently in conjunction with Channel 5’s Head of Development, Beren Money.

To date, we’ve had a brilliant, diverse selection of speakers – from producers, directors, writers and talent to technical geniuses who are changing the whole landscape of the medium. And all in the comfort of a great venue with a drink in hand.

Series Producer of Emmerdale, Kate Oates, gave the audience a great insight into the success of this 42 year old series, and how the gruelling schedule is managed. Partick Spence, the Executive Producer of Sky Atlantic’s Fortitude, took us through this gripping drama from concept to screen, with a few very illuminating stories on some of the technical problems they had to overcome – like having to import fake snow from London to, of all places, Iceland!